What attracts international stars to Uganda?
May 22, 2008
INTERNATIONAL urban contemporary gospel artiste, Kirk Franklin, was by press time, slated to perform at Kampala Serena Hotel yesterday. All proceeds from the Serena VIP show go to the African Children Choir (ACC). <br>
By Alex Balimwikungu
INTERNATIONAL urban contemporary gospel artiste, Kirk Franklin, was by press time, slated to perform at Kampala Serena Hotel yesterday. All proceeds from the Serena VIP show go to the African Children Choir (ACC).
He is slated to perform at the Lugogo Cricket Oval tomorrow. You can only envision the excitement as the crowd stomps to his ‘revolutionary’ gospel music.
After Franklin’s concert, American R&B singer and song writer, Beyonce Knowles, is on her way to Kampala for a series of concerts.
To accompany her for the Ugandan shows slated for the Lugogo Cricket Oval and Serena Kampala Hotel, is American rapper and former chief executive officer of Def Jam and Roc-A-ella Records, Jay Z, Kanye West and Mary. J. Blige.
The international artistes who, according to their African booking agent, are already excited about the prospect of performing for Ugandans, are all too aware of the love the party-loving Ugandans have showered visiting artistes — Akon, Elephant Man, UB40, Brick n Lace, Kevin Lyttle and brothers KCI & Jojo; all in the space of four months.
Franklin will stage a family show at Lugogo Cricket Oval tomorrow.
Such is a lifetime opportunity Beyonce and others do not want to miss out on, considering a large telecoms company is ready to pay handsomely to bring her here.
Do not get carried away you R&B lovers. This is only a figment of my imagination, but we cannot rule it out considering the frequency of international artistes in Uganda lately.
We are swimming in a wave of international concerts. At this rate you cannot bet on any international artiste not performing in Uganda; a far cry from the past.
Actually, if all goes according to script, American R&B stars Joe Thomas, Wyclef Jean, Lionel Richie, Reggae outfit Third World and American rapper 50 Cent will perform in Uganda before December this year.
Flash back. Up until 2001 when Soukous star Koffi Olomide threw a tantrum over the lack of an air-conditioned car, having already pocketed $20,000 (sh35m) to perform, Ugandans were glued to lingala and rumba music. Kanda Bongoman, Yondo Sisters, Pepe Kalle (RIP), Luciana Mobulu and Madilu system (RIP) were household names.
Fast Forward. We then started heralding our own, when Club Silk street jams, Pearl of Africa Music Awards (PAM), Ekitoobero and Ekiggunda took centrestage. Local artistes upped their game and album launches became a fad.
You were not worth your salt if you never had an album launch complete with an “award winning†stunt.
Donkeys found their way on stage, so did the monster bulldozers and kanyamas. There was an album launch almost every weekend with signature full-house crowds.
Even when dance hall artistes Shaggy and Sean Paul performed in Uganda, it was a one off. There was nothing threatening for local artistes to suggest a change in tide.
At the time, Jose Chameleone and Bebe Cool exported their music to neighbouring countries.
At one point, Chameleone snubbed the local PAM Awards, claiming his weight was behind promoting his career internationally. Not any more.
Album launches have since become rare. Owing to their waning popularity, they are simply called shows and attract comparatively small crowds now.
Today, local artistes are concerned about the sudden influx of foreign international artistes. They are even more worried that Kenyan artistes, like Nameless, Amani, DNA, Redsan and Jua Cali are household names here and spend more time in Uganda than home, performing at lucrative corporate gigs they themselves would have been invited to. What could have triggered this new wave?
Elvis Ssekyanzi who recently flew in Jamaican dancehall star Elephant Man at the Smirnoff Silk Street Jam believes local musicians had their share of the cake for the last seven years and since everything in life moves in series, audience expectations are higher today.
“It is inevitable; you have to fly in an international artiste to capture the crowd’s imagination at a musical event today.†He, however, prefers to blend the international artistes with local talent.
However, Bills Mboijana of Sleek Promotions, the company that brokered Franklin’s deal before selling rights to utl, admits that promoters are shunning local artistes for two main reasons: The artistes are facing a burn out because they ‘over perform’ and secondly, he says, they demand a lot of money for their services.
“If you are to handle Bobi Wine’s album launch, he charges anywhere between sh25m to sh30m. However, like all other local artistes, he will not fade off the market to create demand, but rather keep performing at karaoke sessions, birthday parties and bar promos.
It devalues the launch, making it too hard to convince the public to pay sh20,000. Almost all the local shows register losses,†Mboijana says.
He points out that Lady Mariam of the Tindatiine fame caused them losses of over sh12m in a botched Christmas show at Ggaba Beach.
“We paid her in advance, but she had four other shows on the day before coming to Ggaba. When she finally showed up, the crowd had run out of patience and broken anything from chairs, speakers to bottles.
We paid sh5m for the losses. That is when I washed my hands off local artistes, †Mboijana says.
He adds that some corporate companies are now showing a tendency to shun sponsorship of local shows. They cannot come on board when they know the artistes can be accessed at karaoke sessions.
Mboijana claims sleek promotions sold rights of the Franklin show to utl at a whooping sh1b, while Celtel came to their rescue with a sh200m sponsorship package when Kevin Lyttle was in Uganda.
He says Kevin Lyttle pocketed $30,000 (sh55m) for two concerts, while Franklin will pocket $100,000 (sh160m) for the two concerts. Mboijana is, however, optimistic the money will be recouped like it has been with other artistes.
“It’s about shrewdness and being calculative. Foreign artistes are the way to go,†he says. Another top city show organiser, Balamu Byaruhanga, of Balaam Enterprises, admits he never recouped the sh42m invested in the KCI & Jojo concert, managing a paltry sh3m in gate collections, but he admits it is less strenuous than organising local shows.
“Though I still deal with the local artistes, they don’t respect us. Local artistes are not easy to deal with.
They should get more organised otherwise we shall keep outsourcing and watch them wither,†he cautions.
INTERNATIONAL urban contemporary gospel artiste, Kirk Franklin, was by press time, slated to perform at Kampala Serena Hotel yesterday. All proceeds from the Serena VIP show go to the African Children Choir (ACC).
He is slated to perform at the Lugogo Cricket Oval tomorrow. You can only envision the excitement as the crowd stomps to his ‘revolutionary’ gospel music.
After Franklin’s concert, American R&B singer and song writer, Beyonce Knowles, is on her way to Kampala for a series of concerts.
To accompany her for the Ugandan shows slated for the Lugogo Cricket Oval and Serena Kampala Hotel, is American rapper and former chief executive officer of Def Jam and Roc-A-ella Records, Jay Z, Kanye West and Mary. J. Blige.
The international artistes who, according to their African booking agent, are already excited about the prospect of performing for Ugandans, are all too aware of the love the party-loving Ugandans have showered visiting artistes — Akon, Elephant Man, UB40, Brick n Lace, Kevin Lyttle and brothers KCI & Jojo; all in the space of four months.
Franklin will stage a family show at Lugogo Cricket Oval tomorrow.
Such is a lifetime opportunity Beyonce and others do not want to miss out on, considering a large telecoms company is ready to pay handsomely to bring her here.
Do not get carried away you R&B lovers. This is only a figment of my imagination, but we cannot rule it out considering the frequency of international artistes in Uganda lately.
We are swimming in a wave of international concerts. At this rate you cannot bet on any international artiste not performing in Uganda; a far cry from the past.
Actually, if all goes according to script, American R&B stars Joe Thomas, Wyclef Jean, Lionel Richie, Reggae outfit Third World and American rapper 50 Cent will perform in Uganda before December this year.
Flash back. Up until 2001 when Soukous star Koffi Olomide threw a tantrum over the lack of an air-conditioned car, having already pocketed $20,000 (sh35m) to perform, Ugandans were glued to lingala and rumba music. Kanda Bongoman, Yondo Sisters, Pepe Kalle (RIP), Luciana Mobulu and Madilu system (RIP) were household names.
Fast Forward. We then started heralding our own, when Club Silk street jams, Pearl of Africa Music Awards (PAM), Ekitoobero and Ekiggunda took centrestage. Local artistes upped their game and album launches became a fad.
You were not worth your salt if you never had an album launch complete with an “award winning†stunt.
Donkeys found their way on stage, so did the monster bulldozers and kanyamas. There was an album launch almost every weekend with signature full-house crowds.
Even when dance hall artistes Shaggy and Sean Paul performed in Uganda, it was a one off. There was nothing threatening for local artistes to suggest a change in tide.
At the time, Jose Chameleone and Bebe Cool exported their music to neighbouring countries.
At one point, Chameleone snubbed the local PAM Awards, claiming his weight was behind promoting his career internationally. Not any more.
Album launches have since become rare. Owing to their waning popularity, they are simply called shows and attract comparatively small crowds now.
Today, local artistes are concerned about the sudden influx of foreign international artistes. They are even more worried that Kenyan artistes, like Nameless, Amani, DNA, Redsan and Jua Cali are household names here and spend more time in Uganda than home, performing at lucrative corporate gigs they themselves would have been invited to. What could have triggered this new wave?
Elvis Ssekyanzi who recently flew in Jamaican dancehall star Elephant Man at the Smirnoff Silk Street Jam believes local musicians had their share of the cake for the last seven years and since everything in life moves in series, audience expectations are higher today.
“It is inevitable; you have to fly in an international artiste to capture the crowd’s imagination at a musical event today.†He, however, prefers to blend the international artistes with local talent.
However, Bills Mboijana of Sleek Promotions, the company that brokered Franklin’s deal before selling rights to utl, admits that promoters are shunning local artistes for two main reasons: The artistes are facing a burn out because they ‘over perform’ and secondly, he says, they demand a lot of money for their services.
“If you are to handle Bobi Wine’s album launch, he charges anywhere between sh25m to sh30m. However, like all other local artistes, he will not fade off the market to create demand, but rather keep performing at karaoke sessions, birthday parties and bar promos.
It devalues the launch, making it too hard to convince the public to pay sh20,000. Almost all the local shows register losses,†Mboijana says.
He points out that Lady Mariam of the Tindatiine fame caused them losses of over sh12m in a botched Christmas show at Ggaba Beach.
“We paid her in advance, but she had four other shows on the day before coming to Ggaba. When she finally showed up, the crowd had run out of patience and broken anything from chairs, speakers to bottles.
We paid sh5m for the losses. That is when I washed my hands off local artistes, †Mboijana says.
He adds that some corporate companies are now showing a tendency to shun sponsorship of local shows. They cannot come on board when they know the artistes can be accessed at karaoke sessions.
Mboijana claims sleek promotions sold rights of the Franklin show to utl at a whooping sh1b, while Celtel came to their rescue with a sh200m sponsorship package when Kevin Lyttle was in Uganda.
He says Kevin Lyttle pocketed $30,000 (sh55m) for two concerts, while Franklin will pocket $100,000 (sh160m) for the two concerts. Mboijana is, however, optimistic the money will be recouped like it has been with other artistes.
“It’s about shrewdness and being calculative. Foreign artistes are the way to go,†he says. Another top city show organiser, Balamu Byaruhanga, of Balaam Enterprises, admits he never recouped the sh42m invested in the KCI & Jojo concert, managing a paltry sh3m in gate collections, but he admits it is less strenuous than organising local shows.
“Though I still deal with the local artistes, they don’t respect us. Local artistes are not easy to deal with.
They should get more organised otherwise we shall keep outsourcing and watch them wither,†he cautions.